


Red is the Rose, Bold is the Knight, and Cruel is the King

by AdamTheApprentice



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game)
Genre: Blood, F/M, Reincarnation, Sad Ending, Swordfighting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2020-07-17
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:41:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25328734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AdamTheApprentice/pseuds/AdamTheApprentice
Summary: Tatyana was known by a new name now, Calluna Vaida, the daughter of a florist.Sergei was known by a new name, as well, Elya Denesch, a Knight of Argynvost.Strahd was knew what had to be done, in this life as in the last several.
Relationships: Tatyana Federovna/Sergei von Zarovich
Comments: 3
Kudos: 8





	Red is the Rose, Bold is the Knight, and Cruel is the King

**Author's Note:**

  * For [CrypticGabriel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrypticGabriel/gifts).



> So, in the process of getting ready to play as Ireena (or, more aptly, Ivan), I was asking the dm some questions and ended up having the idea to write this. I have no regrets. Angst is my lifeblood.

Calluna Vaida took a deep breath, waiting patiently in the small alley behind the flower shop she and her mother tended in the heart of Vallaki. It was really only her mother, Calluna had never had much talent for gardening so she mostly ran the counter and tried ribbon around the stems. It was simple work for a simple girl in a simple town. Everything in Vallaki was well, the people were happy as they could be in the darkness that was Barovia.

Lately, though, Calluna had been stepping out of line. Laws kept Vallaki happy, but she had been breaking them. It started with curfew. And then she left the walls. And now she was contemplating venturing into the woods. It wasn’t like this was normal for her, she’d never have even thought of doing something like this three months ago. But that was before she met Elya Denesch, a knight of the Order of the Silver Dragon. He and a few of the other knights came down once a month for supplies. On this last trip, he had gifted Calluna with a flower he’d picked that matched the color of her eyes and had asked her to meet him that night.

Ever since, the girl had been meeting the handsome knight in secret, night blanketing them from prying eyes. Once each week, the two would slip away, their meeting place having been chosen at the end of the previous meeting. With every rendezvous, Calluna found herself longing more and more to never leave his side. “My little rose”, he called her, a joke he’d made the first time they’d met regarding her hair that had blossomed into an endearment. “My dark knight”, she called him in kind, a comment on his dark blue eyes and ebony black hair. Every time they called one another their secret name, they erupted into fits of barely contained giggles.

Calluna slipped through the gap in the wall, taking a deep breath before hurrying into the cover of the trees so she wouldn’t be seen by the guards. They had chosen a place near to the walls this time, and she wondered idly if he was already there. A breeze blew past, tugging at the hem of her dress and cloak and carrying the sound of a voice on it. The girl smiled, recognizing it as her love before pausing. There was a second. She swore she knew it, but only vaguely. Her steps picked up, carrying her faster over the forest floor until she broke into the clearing she was meant to meet Elya at and the scene that awaited her.

Standing in the center was Elya’s familiar figure, illuminated by the lantern he had brought. It cast evil shadows across his face from its position on the ground by his feet, but served well enough to reveal the man standing just twenty feet away. Vasili von Holtz, Calluna realized. She’d seen him before, many times. He came into her mother’s shop often, buying roses tied with black ribbon every time. Even now, one of her mother’s blooms sat pinned to the lapel of his fine coat. His eyes flickered to her and a cold smile lit his lips.

“Ah, and so she arrives. A pity, I had hoped to have this done sooner.” Vasili stepped forward, and the blade that Calluna only now saw in his hand glinted. Elya pulled his own sword free of its scabbard, the blade poised to deflect an oncoming attack.

“Calluna, you need to run. Run home and don’t leave. I’ll come and get you tomorrow.”

Vasili let out a bark of laughter. “Oh, of course you would think you can best me. Maybe you could have before all of this tragedy, but not anymore, Sergei. I am beyond death now. As much as it pains me, I will kill you, just like I did all those years ago. And when you come back, I will kill you again.” His eyes fixed on Calluna once more. “Love, it seems I’ve made myself a monster to you again, haven’t I? I wonder, with no precipice to jump from, how will you kill yourself once I’ve murdered my brother?”

Calluna found herself rooted to the spot, unable to comprehend what was happening before her. Elya and Vasili, she hadn’t known they were related. But Vasili called him Sergei. He said he’d  _ killed _ Elya, and that he had done it years ago. He called her love, said she’d jumped from some precipice.

The clash of steel meeting steel interrupted her thoughts. Before her, she no longer saw Elya fighting Vasili, but a stranger, a man with eyes that blazed like coals and fangs that glinted in the lantern’s light. The two moved too quickly for Calluna to focus longer than a moment at a time, sparks erupting when their blades met.

Elya cried out as the stranger’s blade struck home, the blade slicing into the knight’s sword arm. Elya’s blade fell to the ground, but he quickly scooped it up with his other hand. Even from here, the girl could see the fear that shone in her knight’s eyes. She had to do something, or he would surely die.

The next few moments passed as a blur. Calluna dragged herself to her feet, terror weighing her down as Elya was disarmed once more, the blade landing several feet away as he stumbled back and landed on the ground. She saw the stranger’s blade lift, ready to deal the final strike, just as she managed to find her courage and dive forward.

The forest was still, none of the clearing’s occupants moving. Elya gazed up in horror at the rose blooming across the lily white of Calluna’s nightgown, a point of steel at its heart. The stranger, in turn, stared into the girl’s blue eyes as the tears that rimmed them threatened to overflow. He drew his sword back, watched it slip from her chest and moved swiftly to catch her before she hit the ground. As Elya watched the man, he knew he’d never seen such raw anger.

Several long seconds of silence hung over the pair before the stranger’s eyes finally came to rest on Elya again. Not a word was spoken, but Elya didn’t need words to know what would happen next. He tried to move away, tried to escape, but he couldn’t. His body stayed still a board as Calluna’s body dissolved into mist in the man’s arms. He was still when the man lifted his blade. And, just before the world blackened, Elya swore he saw a trail of blood on the man’s cheeks.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed!


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